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How To Win Big When Setting Goals

Speaker, Business Coach and CEO of Grow My Brand, she helps women entrepreneurs start and grow businesses filled with profit and purpose

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As inspirational author Orison Swett Marden once said, “All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible.”

When you set a new goal, there is one thing you're told it needs to be: SMART.

For years, we have been told by experts that every goal needs to be specific, measurable, achievable, results-focused and time-bound. Even if these "experts" don't use these terms specifically, chances are, they used a synonym.

This reiterated theory is easy to remember and sounds like a well-thought-out path to achieving even the most challenging of goals.

However, if we take a step back, how do we know what “realistic” and “attainable” goals are really worth having? What do you really dream about? Exploring untouched lands, owning a world famous ice cream franchise, or ending world hunger? It seems like realistic and attainable goals are not going to make that happen.

When you really think about it, those goals will only keep you from getting close to those dreams. These simple and SMART goals may even make it more difficult for you to make real achievements.

For example, let's say person A decides they want to gain 10% more clients in the new year. This is certainly attainable. You can work 10% more, spend 10% more and even work every weekend to meet that 10%. You may even earn that 10%. You did it! You achieved your goal!

Now think, did your 10% goal push you to work as hard as you can? Or did it create a mental point for you to not try your absolute hardest? Did it create a subconscious ceiling that may have prevented you from earning 20% more clients? According to Harvard Business Review, more than 80% of managers say they have goals, but mention they are limited in number. Limited.

Instead of playing it safe, great entrepreneurs know that setting those big outrageous goals — that may even appear too big — is what really pushes you to reach above everyone else.

Great entrepreneurs do not limit themselves to that 10% safe goal. They say, "I want to double my clients." They learn to stretch and push themselves to see what they can really give. These entrepreneurs grow at a much faster rate, knowing their work will grow with them and the possibilities will be there.

Now here is the disclaimer. Setting crazy goals like, "I want to be the princess of Canada," may be a bit too unreasonable. Simply putting the goal out there does not mean it will happen. The key is knowing which goal is simply crazy and which goal is, in fact, restricting you with self-imposed limits.

You may not be able to double your clients, but if you make your goal a 10% increase, is 50% going to be possible? Push your self-imposed limits out of the way. Your dreams are big, so go big with your goals.

Have comfort in this. Even if you find yourself failing to accomplish your big goals, you will have made much more progress than if you stuck with those SMART goals.